It’s funny that the written word has flourished in this digital age, despite the ongoing plight of newspapers and radio stations. Sales for trade ebooks were worth $14 million for June in the US alone, 132% more than what sales were last year according to the Association of American Publishers. It appears authors are likely to have a long and healthy future, even though the world is heading more and more towards digital media.

This is probably why Sony has jumped into the dedicated ebook reader pool with Amazon, releasing the Daily Edition However, you can read ebooks on more than just dedicated devices like the Kindle and Daily Edition, in fact these are just some of the devices available from Chinavasion that have an ebook function. Thankfully there are also a lot of places you can get ebooks for free. Project Gutenberg That doesn’t mean that the books aren’t good. Project Gutenberg. 30+ Accessibility Tools, Softwares & Resources for The Visually Impaired.

Free ebooks are meant to be read and enjoyed by everybody regardless of physical imperfections, hence why this post is being made, although I must admit that this should be the first post that should be posted here.

Having said that, do join me in the journey to increase this list of resources to make it a comprehensive one, to provide and create the proper accessibility channels. I’m sure there are other list out there which covers some of the areas below, but I do hope this post will somehow be a part of the whole effort in making this a reality. Audio Ebooks Been covered here, 35 total sites found so far providing free downloadable audio ebooks. Adobe Reader 9 Accessibility Taking note that 99% of the ebooks on this site are in PDF format, Adobe has a site dedicated specifically in providing information in greater details on making it easier for people with disabilities to read PDF files.

Screen Readers (Free) One of the most obvious ones came with your copy of Windows. Other Resources. Convert a PDF file into a .MOBI or AZW (Kindle) Compatible File. Why Preserve Books? The New Physical Archive of the Internet Archive. By Brewster Kahle, June 2011 Press on this: NYtimes Books are being thrown away, or sometimes packed away, as digitized versions become more available.

This is an important time to plan carefully for there is much at stake. Digital technologies are changing both how library materials are accessed and increasingly how library materials are preserved. After the Internet Archive digitizes a book from a library in order to provide free public access to people world-wide, these books go back on the shelves of the library. We noticed an increasing number of books from these libraries moving books to “off site repositories” (1 2 3 4) to make space in central buildings for more meeting spaces and work spaces. Two of the corporations involved in major book scanning have sawed off the bindings of modern books to speed the digitizing process.

There is also a connection between digitized collections and physical collections. The goal is to preserve one copy of every published work.
Amazon to Lower Kindle to Under $100 by Christmas?
Expect to see Amazon offering a Kindle for less than $100 by the end of the year.

In a research note offered by Citigroup, analyst Mark Mahaney predicted that Amazon’s e-reader is so successful that the company will be able to lower the price by the end of the year. Noting that “eBooks have clearly reached critical mass” for Amazon, Mahaney says, “We believe that industry-wide, eBooks will surpass Print books in terms of sales within 2-3 years,” adding that Kindle sales are up 200% in 2011 so far compared with the same period last year. Mahaney estimates that Kindle sales for 2011 are currently at 17.5 million, with “over 310 million” eBooks sold in the same period for a combined revenue of $3.8 billion, or 8% of Amazon’s total revenue for the year. By 2012, Kindle and eBook sales are expected to reach 10% of Amazon’s revenue, with Mahaney adding, “We have long had a 10% rule – when one segment achieves 10% of the total business, it can impact the growth rate of the total business.”